Re: Items in a Series and Comma Use?

Subject: Re: Items in a Series and Comma Use?
From: Sankara R <ss_rajanala -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, Kirk Turner <royj -at- alltel -dot- net>
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 15:32:07 -0800 (PST)


Luckily for most of us, the company style guide
says: use a serial comma (or don't) and we go
with that. The U.S. govt printing office is one
such body that mandates the use of it, I learnt
from Strunk.

Omitting the comma before the last item (before
'and') had, according to one of my teachers, this
justification: that comma was shorthand for
'and'.

This and that and the other
This, that and the other

Thus, it was pointed out - the comma before and
is superlative.
Or, do I mean superfluous?

But then, if the style book says put a comma, so
we do.
He who pays the piper calls the commas.


Thanks and regards,
Sankara S Rajanala
Citec Information
+358 50 428 0702
----------------
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You are an intern and a rodent, respectively.




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References:
Items in a Series and Comma Use?: From: Geoff Hart

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